Technicalities
by Miss Aircastle
Summary: Lily has two problems and decides to solve them both by trying something else. "I need you to help me pull a prank." "Prongs, if you don't kiss her anytime soon, I will." [L/J oneshot]


**A/N:** Once again, I can't take the credit for the idea. A Tumblr user called marauder4evr thought of the 'technically we're not breaking any rules' thing. I don't know where those Tumblr people keep finding their ideas, but it has inspired me like you wouldn't believe. This is my spin on it.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Technicalities**

"That's never going to work."

"Of course it will, if we find a spell that covers all the – "

"But what about the portraits?"

"Bugger, didn't think of that. So listen, what if we - "

"Doesn't matter. Even if we find a way to bypass the portraits, we're still stuck."

"We're the _Marauders._ We don't do 'stuck'."

"Be as it may, Prongs, but that doesn't change the fact that we _are_."

"Moony, stop being so reasonable, I've got half a mind to –"

" _What is the meaning of this?"_

The arrival of a seething Professor McGonagall made every student in the Gryffindor common room look up in interest, sensing easy entertainment was just around the corner. This included Lily Evans, who had been enjoying a book whilst following the Marauders' conversation with one ear. The four boys had been huddled together, discussion getting more heated by the minute, but now looked up as one to glare at the intruder. McGonagall did not come alone, towing a student along behind her. Lily recognized Duncan Carr, a tiny Ravenclaw first year.

Much unlike their professor, Lily wanted to giggle at the Marauders' uniform glare. The glares lasted only for a moment and the room was treated to a well-rehearsed piece of theatre, artfully casual in its nature.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Minnie" said Sirius, throwing his legs over the arms of his chair. Only a sharply observing spectator would see him wipe some old piece of parchment with a small flick of his wand.

"We didn't see anything either," Peter chimed in, muffling the parchment underneath the table – not nearly as casual.

"And even though it's lovely to see you as always, we didn't do anything" James grinned at their professor. Because she was looking for it, Lily saw his wand flick slightly, directing the parchment into the bag sitting on the ground.

"Because when you get to the gist of it, we weren't there," concluded Remus, snapping the bag shut. "So what can we help you with, Professor?"

All of them seemed perfectly at ease and mildly interested as to why their professor seemed to be on a warpath. None of them – not even Peter – looked guilty and nervous in any way. Lily had to admire their nerves, but also figured they'd done this before.

"I think you have already _helped_ enough, mister Lupin. Mister Carr here has reported to the Infirmary with his…condition."

"What's wrong with him then?" James asked casually. "He looks alright to me, bit tired perhaps. Did you get enough sleep, Carr?"

"Carr, don't – " McGonagall started, but she was too late. Duncan opened his mouth to answer James' question and the second he did one of Mozart's most famous aria's came out of his mouth. The Gryffindors watched with open mouths as the little boy belted out the entire aria of the Queen of the Night. When the final note finally faded away, it took the Gryffindors about a second to start clapping and cheering like crazy.

"Ah, _The Magic Flute,_ one of my all-time favourites," Sirius sniffed dramatically. "I've got to say Carr, you really captured the essence."

Duncan beamed at the compliment and looked like he would try for an encore but McGonagall quickly cast a silencing spell.

"Every time this boy opens his mouth, he starts singing some aria. Any idea how this happened, mister Pettigrew?"

Peter suddenly didn't look so casual any more, now that the Head of the Gryffindor House was targeting him personally. He looked down at his feet, and mumbled something.

"What was that?" McGonagall asked sharply.

Peter looked up and took a deep breath. "I said it looks to me like maybe, hypothetically, Carr wished his voice was heard in this school and maybe, hypothetically, someone granted his wish."

This answer brought on a new wave of uproarious laughter. Lily thought she could see a bit of pride shining in the eyes of Remus, Sirius and James.

"Don't even think for a _second_ I appreciate this completely inappropriate cheek of yours." McGonagall looked more furious with every passing second. Her usually tight bun looked on the verge of unravelling she was shaking so much. "This is the third time this week I've found a student like this and I _know_ you four have something to do with it."

"But professor, we all know there's only one thing that matters," Black said, not even trying to hide his contentment. "Can you prove any of it?"

"I will only say this once, so I suggest you listen most attentively, mister Black" McGonagall said, releasing the full force of her titanium stare on the boys in front of her. The laughter around them quieted. "If I find _one_ _more_ student with inclinations towards the opera this week, if I find _one more_ dancing army of toilets serenading the teachers' table during breakfast, if you give me reason to believe you've broken the rules _one more time this week,_ so help me Merlin, I will give all of you detention for the rest of the year andkick both you and mister Potter of the Quidditch team so fast you won't need a broom to fly."

And with that statement professor McGonagall swept out of the room. The second she'd left everyone burst out laughing again. The Marauders were soon swamped with compliments, handshakes and pats on the back from their fellow housemates. Lily watched James fight off an overenthusiastic fourth year and smirked at him over the girl's head. He mouthed _help me_ as a silent plea, but she just rolled her eyes and picked up her book.

Her relationship with James was, as it always had been, complicated. Because it turned out that after _I hate you stop asking me out you prat_ complicated, it did not get any simpler. Things like _I can't believe you've been right all along about my former best friend and you're not being a git about it_ started turning up. And: _I don't think I've ever had this much fun during patrols_. Or more recent: _So I might have feelings for you, but no matter how obvious I'm being you're not exactly working with me here._ When you had as much history as they had, it was sometimes hard to move past.

But still, there was something about him. Something –

"…so exciting!"

A couple of Gryffindor girls from the fifth year were seated a table behind her and hadn't noticed Lily curled up in her chair. She snuggled down even further down in her chair for some shameless eavesdropping.

"I can't believe they just stood up to McGonagall like that," one girl said, 'if it were me, I'd be terrified."

"Oh please. Like McGonagall would actually skin them for something as innocent as this," a second girl scoffed. "I mean, she can pretend to be all furious, but everybody knows they're her favourites. Especially Potter and Black with their Transfiguration skills and puppy eyes."

"Yes, they rather have that going for them, don't they?" The first girl's voice suddenly sounded all dreamy. Lily pointedly ignored a wave of something that could've been jealousy if she'd acknowledged it. Which she didn't.

"Still, this is the best laugh I've had in ages," the third girl mused. "With all the war going on and more people dying every week, I sometimes don't feel a teenager anymore."

The other girls dropped their voice to murmur some comforting words and Lily stopped listening, because she was suddenly busy with her own thoughts.

 _I don't feel like a teenager anymore._

Those words hit closer to home than she would've liked. Her heart ached for her housemates, but mostly for herself. When was the last time she truly felt alive? Alive, not just surviving? The tension in the castle was getting worse by the day and as Hogwarts resident Headgirl – and Muggle to boot – she'd had her fair share of trouble in the last few months. Most of the days she felt like the war had already arrived at her doorstep, before she'd even graduated. She was determined to fight, of course, but in moments like this she would've given everything to feel like a little bit carefree.

 _I don't feel like a teenager anymore._

And as she looked over to the Marauders, who were now quietly talking amongst themselves, she figured she knew how to solve two problems.

* * *

That evening found the Gryffindor boys in one of their favourite empty classrooms, once again huddled over that old piece of parchment, which was – of course - the Marauders Map. The four boys had resumed their discussion from earlier that day, when they were once again interrupted.

"What do you mean _we still need to do something about the portraits_? Moony, I thought we'd have solved it by now!"

"You mean that _I_ should have solved it Prongs, which I didn't. And if you gits don't start doing some research with me, this entire prank will never see the light of day," Remus told him. "Besides, we've got bigger problems to worry about. Or did you conveniently forget McGonagall's threat from this morning?"

The other three started arguing at the same time, so the gentle cough was almost lost in the fray. But Peter, ever the lookout, had eyes on the door. When his eyes suddenly went wide as saucers the other three whipped around to see Lily Evans standing in the doorway.

"Is this a bad time?" she asked lightly, leaning against the doorpost with a nonchalance she did not feel at all.

If the boys were surprised to see her there, they hid it well. Both Remus and Peter looked at her curiously, while Sirius merely showed irritation, which he quickly hid behind his usual superior grin. Only James looked genuinely pleased to see her.

"Evans, if you're here to shag Prongs: you can't. We're in the middle of making plans and I need him completely focused," Sirius said. Something about his grin was a little too knowing for Lily's comfort. He couldn't possibly know what she was doing, could he?

"Please ignore him," James told her whilst elbowing his mate in the side. His ears had turned red in embarrassment.

"I usually do," Lily supplied airily, even though she couldn't completely prevent a slight blush. Once again she realised how far they'd come since Fifth Year. Two years ago James would've made that joke himself, let alone be embarrassed for her sake. Two years ago Lily would've blown up because of that, let alone jest about it. The times are a changing, indeed.

"Now that we're all ignoring Padfoot like we should," Remus noted drily, "I'm still more than mildly curious as to why you're here, Lily. I'm sure you have better things to do than lurk around in empty classrooms with us."

"True," Lily grinned at her friend, "but today I need your help." She took a deep breath and - "I need you to help me pull a prank."

The shocked silence that followed her words was so loud she could actually hear her own heartbeat. The four buys stared at her with their mouths open, a comic sight that she would've laughed at if she wasn't so nervous.

"Well, dog my cats," Sirius said, his grin back in place, "Prongs, you hear that? Evans has a dark side! I can't believe we never – Prongs?"

James hadn't moved a muscle since Lily last spoke, frozen with one hand stuck in his hair and a strange expression of disbelief and something else plastered on his face. The _something else_ in his expression did strange things to her stomach.

"I think she broke him," said Peter, who was poking James in the side.

"And thus ends the short life of James Harold Potter," Remus said solemnly, even though the twinkle in his eyes told another tale, "who laughed in the face in many dangers – "

"But was finally defeated in the face of that one unbeatable foe: redheaded witches who suddenly have an urge for mischief," Sirius continued.

"May his legacy echo through the ages as a warning for all young wizards," concluded Peter.

A surprised giggle escaped Lily and the sound snapped James out of his stupor.

"Alright you gits, that's about enough," he muttered, but a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He shook his head like a dog in the rain and then focused his hazel stare on Lily. "So Evans, you want to pull a prank? Why?"

"What? You don't believe I suddenly had the urge to prank all the students of this school?" Lily said drily.

"All the students in the school? Blimey Evans, you aim high, don't you? Pranking all of Hogwarts is like expert level pranking," Sirius told her, unable to keep the incredulity out of his voice. "If you're going to do this at all you should probably start with, I don't know, setting off one Dungbomb in Slughorn's dungeons. The man adores you, he won't mind."

"No, it _has_ to be everyone," Lily insisted "and I've got a plan that will work. I just need your help to execute it because, well, I'm obviously not an expert level pranker, like you said."

James ran a hand through his hair. "Lil, even _if_ we were going to help you, you heard McGonagall this morning. If we break the rules one more time this week, she will kick Sirius and me off the Quidditch team. I'm not sure I'm willing to risk it."

"And here I thought you Marauders weren't afraid of anything," Lily said, "besides, I've got that covered."

She told them the plan.

" _Bloody -_ " James was once again at a loss for words.

"So you like it, then?" Lily asked, a tiny bit smug.

"It's passable," Sirius smirked, but she could see that he approved.

Remus was beaming at her. "Lily, that's brilliant!" Then he frowned. "Wait, we now have a similar problems as we have with the portraits in our other…venture."

"Merlin, not that again," Peter groaned.

Lily reached into her bag and pulled out a small tome. "Here, you'll find this will help."

She threw it at Peter who caught if deftly and peered at the cover. " _Advanced Charms, part III: Architecture_? Lily, where did you get this?"

"From professor Flitwick's personal library," Lily answered, keeping a perfect innocent expression. "I've been taking extra lessons for years now and he borrowed me this for a very important essay that I'm writing. Of course, I had to promise I would use it for research only, but I figured this counts as well."

"Prongs?" Sirius said, looking very thoughtful all of a sudden.

"Yes, Padfoot?"

"If you don't kiss her anytime soon, I will."

* * *

The next evening found James and Lily shuffling along a corridor on the fifth floor on their way to the Ravenclaw common room. Minutes earlier, James had explained to her the finer details of the Invisibility Cloak and how to keep all your limbs from sticking out. Tucked at his side with his arm around her shoulders, Lily was pretty sure he was taking advantage of the situation, but she wasn't complaining. Much.

"And you're _sure_ we have to walk this close?"

"Evans, which one of us is the expert on hiding beneath the Invisibility Cloak, you or me?"

"Fine. But I still say this is stupid."

"As long as you stay close."

"Well, I can't bloody well go anywhere with you wrapped all around me, can I?"

"Will you be quiet? Filch will hear us."

"Oh please, like he will ever catch us with this Cloak on."

"The Cloak isn't soundproof, Lil" James told her, "we learned that lesson the hard way."

"I sense there's a story there," she said, looking up at him. "One that you've got to – _oof_ "

The rest of her sentence got lost because James suddenly grabbed her around the waist and dragged her into a small passageway beside a tapestry.

"Potter, what are you doing?" she hissed. She was pressed up against a wall, with James standing even closer to her than he had before.

"Shut up, I heard something," he whispered, his mouth very close to her ear.

"Right," she whispered back, secretly enjoying the shivers down her spine, "you expect me to believ – "

Once again he cut off her sentence, this time by clapping a hand across her mouth. Not a moment too soon, because Argus Filch came walking by about a second later. Lily froze, trying to breathe as quietly as she possibly could.

After a minute or so, James relaxed and removed his hand from her mouth. "So, you were saying?" he asked. Apparently it was now _his_ turn to look smug.

"Okay, fine," Lily conceded, "you _might_ have superior hearing. Can we go now?" Not that she didn't like standing so close to him - quite the opposite actually - but his closeness was starting to mess with her head. That smell of grass and leather and _something else_ got under her skin.

"No, we can't," James murmured and when she raised an eyebrow, he explained, "Filch always loops back after a few minutes, to make sure he didn't miss anyone. We've got to stay here till then, or we'll get caught at the Ravenclaw door."

"Fair enough."

"So, as long as we're here," he said suddenly, "I was wondering something."

He was looking at her intently, those hazel eyes once again filled with that _something else._ It reminded Lily once more that she was basically standing toe-to-toe with James Potter in a very small corridor.

"You never answered my question," he started, almost hesitantly. "Why are you doing this? Because forgive me, but I'm having trouble believing you're doing this to help us escape Minnie's wrath."

"In a way, I _am_ helping you," she told him, staring at a button on his shirt. She wasn't going to tell him the _real_ reason, of course. "I realised yesterday that you guys are one of the few people at this point who have the capability to keep the war at bay." When she saw his confusion, she rolled her eyes at him. "Now is not the time to catch modesty, James. Everyone is scared out of their wits these days. They need something to laugh about, before the war takes over their life entirely." She looked at him properly and had to hide a smile when she saw the rapidly increasing elation on his face.

"I - " James looked like he wanted to say ten things at the same, but one won out. "Wait a second. You _hate_ pranks. Trust me, I've noticed."

"No I don't," she countered, "never said that. I hate pranks that hurt people. There's a difference. The pranks you lot pull nowadays may be childish sometimes, but they're also harmless and mostly… _fun."_

"I can't believe this is happening," James murmured, looking dazed again, "wait 'till I tell Padf – "

He interrupted himself, his head snapping up like an animal in the field. He shot her a warning look and she got the message. Once again they stood there in total silence, until the caretaker had moved on to the next corridor.

"Well, that was exciting," Lily said as they shuffled out of their hiding spot. To her surprise her voice actually sounded a bit breathy.

"Welcome to the glamorous life of a Marauder, love," James said, with a sweeping bow. "Although, this is the best deal I've had in years, come to think of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on Evans, think about it," he said, rolling his eyes, "even with my Cloak we got caught sometimes. Imagine what people think when they find two blokes hiding behind a tapestry together. You have _no idea_ how many rumours we started in our first year."

The image was enough for Lily to collapse into helpless laughter and he laughed with her, that easy grin of his dancing around his lips.

" _Prongs, are you quite done with tittering around? We're on the clock here, though why I have to remind you, I've got no clue,"_ James' back pocket hissed suddenly.

"James, why does your arse talk to you in Sirius' voice?"

He snorted at her question. "Partly because Sirius _is_ an arse most of the time, but also because of this." He handed her the mirror he had hidden in his pocket. And sure enough, Sirius' scowling face was visible in the glass.

"You know, your face will freeze like that," she told him.

"It already has," James claimed, looking over her shoulder. He was once again very close and Lily wondered absentmindedly how much of his closeness she could handle in one day.

"Piss off, Prongs," Sirius told him with feeling, "and hurry up, we all need to perform the enchantment at the same time. Evans, two things. One, I'm still not sure I trust this new version of you. It's weird. Which introduces my second point: you need a nickname. You can't be a proper pranker without a nickname. 'Evans' is too close to 'Headgirl'."

She could feel, rather than see, James fervently nodding beside her.

"The rest of us took the liberty of making a list," Sirius went on. James muttered something beneath his breath that sounded a lot like _uh-oh._ "Please take your pick from the following options: Lady Prongs, General Red, Super-Swot, Lady Prongs, The Emerald Stare or my personal favourite: Lady Prongs."

"Sirius, didn't we have a schedule to keep?" James said desperately, before Lily could say anything. "Because otherwise I'd like schedule an hour somewhere for you and me to… _talk_ about some things. I've got a few suggestions of the top of my head for where you can stick your ideas." The not-so veiled threat completely bounced off of Sirius, who fluttered his eyelashes at his best mate. "I'd _love_ to talk to you, handsome."

James looked like he was about to blow a fuse, so Lily intercepted.

"I'll take 'Lady Prongs', thanks Sirius."

"You _what?_ " Sirius and James chorused.

A small but intense argument immediately broke out on the other side of the mirror.

" _Padfoot, move over, I want to talk to Lily. Yes, I'm aware that it's_ your _mirror, I just don't care. Sirius, now."_

And sure enough, Sirius made way for Remus' face, who immediately focused on Lily. "Lily, what are you _doing_?"

"Your nicknames are based on your Patronus, right?" Lily said, pointedly not looking at the boy beside her. "Mine's a doe, so I figured this is the best one."

"Your Patronus is a doe…" Remus repeated weakly. "Of course it is. You know what, carry on." He disappeared from view, muttering to himself.

"Now that that's all figured out, let's talk business." Sirius returned, looking extremely pleased with himself. "In exactly ten minutes, all three of us have to copy the enchantment you're placing on the Ravenclaw doors. Lady Prongs, you're the best with Charms so you place the original enchantment from your swot-club book on the Ravenclaw doors. Prongs, you have the mirror, so you give us the signal. Moony, Wormtail and me will repeat the enchantment on the other doors. If all goes well, we will have results in about an hour. If everything's clear so far, we're maintaining radio silence until the signal. Over and out."

James pocketed the mirror again and looked at Lily like he didn't know what to do anymore.

"You erhm – " He cleared his throat. "You realise that Sirius was joking about the nickname thing, right?"

"No, he wasn't," she said, noticing that she was really, surprisingly, okay with the turn of events. "He would've used that nickname anyway, so I decided to steer into the skid."

For a moment he just stared, but then he smiled at her warmly. "You're really something else, Evans."

' _Something else' is going to kill me one of these days._

"It's Lady Prongs for now, remember," she said.

"I'm not bloody likely to forget that," he muttered, taking a few steps further down the corridor. Then he looked over his shoulder. "C'mon then, we have a common room to charm."

* * *

 _One hour and about ten minutes later…_

"I've got to say, Evans, this worked out better than I thought it would!" Sirius yelled, racing past her and James on his bed. "Bite the dust, losers!"

"You're welcome Black!" Lily yelled back, before rolling her eyes. "Show off."

"It's your own fault for challenging him, you know," James grinned, "Besides, you were the one who turned all the staircases into giant slides."

"No, that was you. I only used a highly exclusive Charms book to place a forbidden enchantment on all the common rooms so that everyone's bed is now flying around the corridors."

"Wasn't that what I just said? My bad."

The two of them were sitting cross-legged on James' bed, currently flying along the fourth floor corridor. They were enjoying the fruits of their labour, while waving at the other students. All the Hogwarts students were having an excellent time sliding or racing each other down the corridors. The laughter and screams were ringing through the castle like it turned into an attraction park.

"Looks like you got what you wanted," said James, leaning back against the headboard of his bed.

"Not everything," Lily said, before her courage left her. "James, I – "

"Lil, hold that thought, but more importantly: hold on to me," James hollered suddenly and when Lily looked over her shoulder, she saw that their ride had arrived at the biggest slide. She dove for James who wrapped his arms around her just before their bed toppled over the edge.

Down, down, down, turn, loop, and rise. Down, down, turn, twist, turn, up, down, turn and before she knew it, they were on the first floor.

"On second thought, this may not have been my best plan," Lily said, when she found all her senses again. James was still laughing and because she was still locked in his embrace, she felt the vibrations through her entire body.

"Are you kidding me, this is the best thing ever!" Peter shouted on her right. She – reluctantly – climbed out of James' arms to find the rest of the Marauders there.

"Not bad for a first time, Lily," Remus told her, "One might even say you're a natural."

"Bah, you're getting ahead of business, Moony," Sirius scoffed. "Because let me impart some wisdom on you, young pupil: a prank ain't over until you've dealt with McGonagall and are telling exaggerated stories to first years."

" _What in Merlin's name is going on here?!"_

"Here she cooomes," Sirius said in a singsong voice.

McGonagall came stomping down the corner, wearing a fuzzy red and gold bathrobe. It might've been funny another time, but the professor was obviously not in a joking mood. She stopped in front of the slide, taking in the mayhem around her. Her wand appeared in her hand a second later.

" _Finite incantatem!"_

All the beds immediately stopped flying, dropping down through the entire castle. The only sound left was the soft sliding of the beds who'd been mid-slide when the professor arrived.

It made for a very sad sight, Lily thought. But she had bigger problems unfolding in front her.

"I believe I was _very_ clear the other day when I warned you what would happen if you pulled any of this again." McGonagall didn't shout. She seldom did. But the Marauders, who were standing in front her by now, looked suitably impressed.

"Potter, Black, I'd have thought your place in the Quidditch team would mean something to you. Starting immediately, you two are –"

"Excuse me, professor?"

Lily didn't realise she had spoken until she saw their professor turn around to look at her.

Right.

"Miss Evans, not now," McGonagall said shortly.

"But Professor, this is important," she insisted. "Because you see, _technically_ they didn't break any rules."

For the second time in 24 hours, Lily was met with total silence.

"Evans," Professor McGonagall sputtered after a few seconds. "What on earth could you possibly be talking about? Of course they broke the rules."

"No they didn't," Lily told her. "The rules say that students aren't allowed out of bed at night. _Technically,_ none of the students is out of bed right now."

Professor McGonagall was staring at her like she was a pesky Transfiguration problem and for a moment, Lily feared for her life. It didn't help that she could see the Marauders slowly turn red from suppressing their laughter behind her professor's back.

"I'm only asking you this because I usually place a lot of faith in your common sense, Evans," McGonagall said suddenly. "Let's say, for arguments' sake, that there _technically_ aren't any rules broken with the flying beds, how do you explain the giant slides?"

The professor was still looking very fierce, but Lily thought she recognised that expression in her eyes.

"Architectural coincidence," Lily answered promptly. "There's so much magic moving these stairs around, that sometimes they temporarily transform. I read somewhere that in the 17th century, the stairs changed into waterfalls for a week. The students had to row to their classes."

"Did they now?" the professor asked and Lily could swear she saw a twinkle in the woman's eyes. "Incredibly convenient that you've read up on the subject, miss Evans. Lord knows what we would've done without all this information."

McGonagall looked around her and then brushed some invisible dust of her sleeve. "Well, as there are _technically_ no rules broken, I suppose will return to my chambers. Of course, I will go in the knowledge that Hogwarts' Headboy and Headgirl are making sure no accidents happen. I will also sleep soundly knowing that my Quidditch team will play their very best in next week's match _and_ that all _this_ will be gone tomorrow."

McGonagall swept her wand around and the beds started hovering again. She nodded at the four boys and Lily. "Goodnight gentlemen, miss Evans."

And also for the second time in 24 hours, she swept from the room.

Lily barely had time to process what just happened, before she was suddenly swamped by all the Marauders.

"LADY PRONGS, MY LITTLE PRODIGY" Sirius was hollering, clutching her to his chest and dramatically sniffing for good measure.

"I can't believe you pulled it off!" Peter said, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Prongs, I'm afraid I'm going to have to second Padfoot's statement on this!" Remus shouted over her head.

"You were amazing!" James said to her, his face now completely shining with _something else._ "Minnie never would've let us get away with this if it weren't for you!"

Lily realised a perfect moment was about to present itself and she shot a poignant look to Remus over James' shoulder. Unfortunately for her, it was Sirius that caught it.

"Gosh and golly," he suddenly exclaimed, "I would really like to try that one slide on the other side of the castle again. Come with me, my comrades, onwards and upwards, but mostly away from here!"

The three boys jumped on Sirius' bed, and Lily watched them go with a pained expression on her face. "Subtlety, thy name is _not_ Sirius Black" she sighed.

"Nah, never has been," James said, balancing on the balls of his feet. She took a breath to steady herself, but he spoke before she could. He was intently staring at a point just above her ear whilst talking. "So, ehm, in case you were wondering, I now have two Marauders for sale who have offered to kiss you in the last few hours and even though I love them as my brothers, they're wildly inappropriate for you – no wait that's not true, Remus will probably be _very_ appropriate for you, but let's face it, it would be like having a relationship with yourself and – "

"James, why are you rambling on about this? You should know by now I don't want any of _them_ to kiss me," Lily interrupted.

"You don't?"

"Not at all."

"Well, that is good to – hold on. You said 'one of them' with the emphasis on _them._ Is there someone else?"

Looking at the panic on his face, Lily wanted to smack him.

"James," she said, reaching up and letting her fingers through his hair, "I just let your best friend call me 'lady prongs' for an entire day. _Really_ think about that."

He leaned in to her touch, smiling. "Sorry love. All sorts of hints have been trying to tell me the same thing for a day, but I'm having trouble believing it."

"Well," she said playfully, "maybe I'm going to take Remus up on his offer until you do." Lily withdrew her hand and made to walk away, but he grabbed her hand before she could take a step. She bit back a smile when he pulled her flush against him, enjoying the fierce blaze in his eyes.

"The hell you are," he murmured, his mouth once again very close to ear. "I should've done this yesterday."

He kissed her before she could get another word in edgewise. She immediately knew that the 'something else' that had been following her for days now, was something only James could give her. It was passion and fun and light and wonder all wrapped into one. She clung to his arms while she kissed him back, not even bothering with elegance. It took a while before they slowed their frenzied pace, but when she came up for air, she figured they both looked like a tornado blew by.

"You know, I could get used to this," James said conversationally, tucking a strand of hair behind her hair. The goofy grin on his face betrayed him of course.

"Well," Lily said lightly, feeling the stupid grin on her own face, "someone told me a prank isn't over until you've told exaggerated stories to first years. Since we haven't done that, the prank _technically_ still going on. Which means I'm _technically_ still Lady Prongs."

James dropped an enthusiastic kiss on her lips and then winked at her. "I love it when you talk technicalities, Evans."

As she pulled him to her again, and felt his smile against her lips, she knew she would never _ever_ get rid of the nickname.


End file.
